Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Story and Character Arcs

One of the challenges of writing is telling the events of a story, and showing the internal struggle and change of a character INTERWOVEN AT THE SAME TIME.

I've been thinking about how I'd like to blend the events and character change a little better. I wish I could make some sage comment here, but really I'm just giving this a go.

Deanna and I don't usually have outlines that lead us through scenes from start to finish. Our process is more like we have characters we understand, we know what the normal world starts out as, and have an approximate outcome we are shooting for--and even then we have a lot of surprises as we write.

But maybe using this to guide our brainstorming could bridge the two goals we have in every story.

Crafting Story and Character Arcs

Together

Story Arc (8
point by Nigel Watts)

Possible
Character Arc Guide

Stasis: normal
life

There is a
ghost in the character’s background that s/he ignores

Trigger:
something out of control for the Protagonist

Reader suspects
there is a lie the Protag believes and the Protag questions beliefs for the
first time

Quest: Try to
get back to status quo or improve situation

Protag’s
beliefs cause the tension to rise as his/her old way of thinking intensifies
the problem

Surprise:
conflict, complications, roadblocks

Begins to
learn little pieces of the change needed to win but doesn’t see them or use them together

Crushing blow
makes the Protag deeply reflective leading to an epiphany, might require developing new strengths

Climax:
Highest conflict and tension

Has to fully
commit to new way of thinking, take a leap of faith

Reversal:
Protag’s situation is opposite from the beginning

Character is
wiser, changed or enlightened

Resolution:
new status quo

The old situation
can no longer overpower the Protag, this is the new normal life

(Oh, and none of these ideas are mine--I credited the first column, but the second column is not from a single source and several sources said approximately the same thing, so I don't know who really said it first. None of the sources I consulted aligned the two arcs together.)